When Political Correctness Collides With Itself

I want one.

Sooner or later—usually sooner—the Left’s various politically correct enthusiasms collide with each other. The latest concerns pink breast cancer awareness totems. The Baker-Hughes oil drilling company is using pink drill bits in partnership with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure folks:

This is the second year Baker Hughes has given its traditional black and gold drill bits a makeover in October. Last year, the company painted 500. It’s like NFL players donning pink on their uniforms for October games or MLB players using pink bats on Mother’s Day.

Well guess who’s upset? Wasn’t hard to guess, was it?

But not everyone agrees that Dallas-based Komen should partner with a company that provides equipment and services to the fossil fuel industry.

EcoWatch Blogger Sandra Steingraber criticized Komen, citing several studies that show increased risks of cancer among roughnecks working on hydraulic fracking operations.

“I think Baker Hughes is using the Komen Foundation to try to pink wash its image while at the same time they are exposing people to chemicals that cause cancer,” said Steingraber, a biologist with a specialty in environmental health science.

Her blog went viral Wednesday.

Steingraber turns out to be monumentally ignorant, as the BizJournal story goes on to note:

“Here’s what I’m wagering that a roughneck does not learn from the literature shipped with his drill bit this October: I’m betting he does not read about the recent study from the U.S. Center for Disease Control that found dangerous levels of benzene in the urine of workers in the unconventional (aka fracking) oil and gas industry,” Steingraber wrote. “Benzene is a proven human carcinogen.”

Astute readers will note that drill bits are used for drilling conventional and unconventional wells. They are not used in hydraulic fracking, a well completion process done after the well is drilled.

I think I’ll give Steingraber a Pink Weenie instead of a Green Weenie.

But Steingraber may have to wait, as this week’s top contestant for Green Weenie honors are the utility rate protestors in Madison, Wisconsin, who attempted to power a coal-protest bounce house with wind and solar power and utterly failed, as this delightful two-minute video from the MacIver Institute shows: